• Dimostrazioni dell’Emissario del Lago Albano in Descrizione e disegno dell’Emissario del Lago Albano, tav. III. Rome, 1762

Curatorial Notes:
  • Piranesi’s interests in aqueducts, hydraulics, and ancient Roman engineering converge in this giant fold-out plate. This book describes the tunnel that the Romans constructed to drain Lake Albano. Piranesi combines plans, sections, and details of the massive underground waterway into one image, illustrating different aspects of the tunnel as if rendered on separate sheets of paper. He was particularly interested in the vertical openings that connect the tunnel’s subterranean passage to the surface, alternating between above- and below-ground scenes. He exploits the illusion of the layered page to suggest how the form of the book--itself an assembly of multiple pages--can convey spatial complexity.
Date:
  • 1764
Format:
  • Book
Extent:
  • 3 p. ., 26 p. plates (part double) 55 cm.
Creator:
Publisher:
  • Roma, 1764.
Language:
  • Italian
Subject:
  • Albano (Italy)—Antiquities
  • Castel Gandolfo (Italy)—Antiquities
Author:
  • Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, 1720-1778
Description:
  • Engraved title-page; engraved dedication on double plate.
Credit line:
  • Rare Books, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
View in catalog:
Identifier:
  • ark:/88435/3b591k021